Morty's Incredible Gym
by The Light's Refrain
Summary: ONESHOT - What the Trainer sought was a Gym battle with Morty. What the Trainer found was a couple of foreign weirdos. Volkner/Flint friendship


_Hi! This was one of those stupid ideas that kept bouncing around my head until I eventually wrote it down. It was simple to write, simple to type, and simple to post. Nothing terribly deep here, just a silly story about a strange Gym and some, um, "challengers". Ironically, Morty is mentioned but never seen, even though he's in the title XP.  
_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. Though wouldn't be fun (if harzardous) to live in one of the Gyms?  
_

Morty's Incredible Gym

Upon pushing the doors open, all the Trainer saw was smoke, darkness, and the light of two candles. The boy gulped, then reminded himself that Morty's Gym was a Ghost-themed Gym. Of course it was going to be dark and creepy. He felt his Raticate nuzzle against the back of his left leg and heard her whimper.

Once his eyes got used to the darkness, he noticed a narrow wooden bridge twisting past the candles and into the dimness beyond. Wasn't that dangerous, even for a Ghost-type Gym? Someone could miss a step and then-

"Caaaate…" his large orange rat whined behind him.

"I know it's scary, girl," the Trainer reassured, smiling but nervous himself. "But we should be okay. I mean, Ghost-types can't hurt Normal-types, and you know a lot of Dark-types attacks, so it shouldn't be too bad, right?"

"Rat…" the Raticate answered, not sounding too confident.

Then something large fell from above. Both he and his Raticate jumped back just in time to avoid being caught under the falling thing, which landed with a _whump _right in front of them. The Trainer carefully peered forward and froze.

It was a body of an older teenager, lying face down. It was too shadowy for him to get a good look at it in the darkness, but then again he didn't _want_ a good look at it. His Raticate, brave as ever, hid and quivered behind his leg.

_Oh Arceus, oh Arceus, _the boy thought._ This can't be happening…This _can't_ be-_

The body groaned and slowly got up. It was far taller and leaner than the youth's.

_Oh Arceus it's a zombie! _The boy thought in fright. "Please don't eat my brains, Mr. Zombie! I was only-"

"Huh?" asked the taller figure, giving the Trainer a sharp, blue-eyed look of confusion and annoyance. "What the hell are you talking about?"

The boy stopped his rambling and studied the lean stranger.

"…You're not dead?" he asked finally.

"Of course not," answered the other one. "I should be, but I'm not."

Somehow the Trainer didn't find that very assuring.

The other, apparently living person walked out to the edge of the platform. In the glow of the candlelight the Trainer could see that the stranger had yellow hair and a blue-and-gold military jacket. Those jabbing sky-hued eyes leered into the Gym's smoky depths like he expected a monster was lurking down there.

"Uh…are you here to challenge the Gym too?" asked the boy, he and his Raticate carefully stepping forward.

The fair-haired one smirked, eyes never leaving the abyss before him. He looked pallid in the weak glow.

"In a way."

The Trainer was pondering what the stranger meant by that when the door behind him and his Pokemon opened, flooding the platform area with light. His Raticate, startled, now scuttled in front of her Trainer. The boy turned around.

Now there was another stranger, this one bright all over: Bright red afro, bright yellow shirt, bright gray eyes. He looked to be about the same age as the fair-haired stranger, maybe a bit older. He strutted in and let the door close behind him, not at all afraid of the darkness.

"Hey kid," he called, walking over to the boy. "Have you seen this kinda sulky-looking blonde guy who's kinda pale and wears a long-sleeved fancy jacket even though it's about a hundred degrees-"

"Yes?" the phantom-like blonde called loudly, causing the redhead to jump. The gray-eyed teen turned to the blue-eyed one, who was glaring at him in irritation. Apparently he didn't find the previous description of him flattering.

"Volkner! There you are!" answered the redhead, heading over to where the fair-haired teen was. "I've been looking all over for you!"

"Hey Flint," the one known as Volkner greeted, keeping his hands in his pockets. "Were you looking for me for long or were you staring at the Kimono Girls for a while instead?"

"Those girls sure are pretty," the redhead called Flint mused dreamily, before shaking his head. "Anyway, Jasmine's been looking for you. Been wondering when you're going to finish setting those traps in her Gym. Besides, she _misses_ you."

Volkner's face flushed red.

"…You're just jealous because you're single," he responded, looking away from Flint.

"Ah, so you two are finally dating, huh?" Flint replied, grinning widely.

Volkner's blush deepened. Flint laughed.

"Good for you," the fluffy-haired teenager added, giving his friend a couple of pats on the back. "Now when can we expect little tykes to play with?"

"S-Shut up!"

The Trainer and his Raticate couldn't help but stare. This Volkner guy was dating _Jasmine_, a Gym Leader? He must be really strong. Just who was he?

"Anyway, I didn't mean to worry Jasmine. I'll call her in a little bit," Volkner went on, again gazing into the misty depths of the Gym. "I've been trying to figure out something here first. Mind helping me out?"

"Sure! What else are friends for?" Flint answered cheerily, looking into the wisp-filled void himself. "Whacha need help with?"

Volkner glanced at him, smirked, and returned his gaze to below. Then, while still intently watching the smoky depths, he seized Flint's arm and leaned forward.

"Hey wait, _wait_! Stop that!" Flint exclaimed, trying to back up to keep the blonde and himself from falling. "Stop that Volk_aaaaaaaaaaaaah_!"

The two teenagers plummeted off the platform and out of sight, Flint's fast-fading scream the only trace remaining. The Trainer stood there paralyzed by panic. His Raticate ran over to the edge, peered down, and then decided to rush back over to its Trainer.

_Those two just fell off! What should I do? Call the police? Hospital? Morgue? And tell them what? It was a suicide? Murder? Kamikaze attack? And what if they thought _I _had something to do-_

Just then two people fell from above and landed in front of the Trainer, the blonde and the redhead who he had just witnessed falling to certain doom.

…_Huh? They're back here? They're not dead? But how-_

Volkner sat up, looking more cross than ever.

"Did you see anything, Flint?" he asked, turning to his companion still lying on the floor.

"…No, I was too busy thinking about how I was about to die," Flint replied flatly, before sitting up and shooting Volkner an angry glare. "What the _hell_ were you thinking?"

Volkner let out an aggravated groan and flopped back onto his back.

"Dammit, I can't figure it out," he growled, leering at the ceiling. "Every time someone falls into that darkness they suddenly get warped back here instead of hitting the bottom. How the hell did Morty rig his Gym to do _that_? I don't see any warp mechanics, or any other kind of mechanics for that matter…"

"So _that's_ what this is about," Flint replied, both annoyance and amusement inflected in his voice. "Can't stand having someone else having a fancier Gym than you, huh?"

_Oh, so that Volkner guy is another Gym Leader,_ thought the boy. _He's not one I've heard of though. A foreign one, maybe? That would explain a lot. I wonder if this Flint guy is a foreign Gym Leader too. They sure seem close._

"Well, yeah, of course not," Volkner answered proudly, sitting back up. "And I'm not leaving until I figured out how Morty did it."

"How many times have you thrown yourself over the edge trying to figure it out?" asked the redhead.

"Fifty-seven," Volkner answered matter-of-factly. "Including my trip with you, fifty-eight. Are you _sure_ you didn't see anything strange as we were falling?"

"…Why don't you just ask Morty?" suggested Flint. "It'd be a lot easier. And less hazardous."

"He won't tell me!" Volkner snapped. "All he did was just give me a smirk and tell me I'd have find the answer in my heart or some other crap. I know he's somewhere in this Gym laughing at me. But I _will _figure out the mechanics of this place, I sw-"

"Who says anything's mechanical?" asked Flint. "Maybe it's some kind of supernatural thing? It _is _a Ghost-type Gym."

"If anyone or anything had _this_ kind of supernatural power, they wouldn't be using it for just a gimmick in a Gym," Volkner said, standing up and dusting himself off.

"You would," answered Flint, also getting up. "You and your Gym obsession that knocked out power in Sunyshore for about a week."

"Actually, I'd be using that kind of power to take over the world, thank you very much," Volkner declared flatly, as if that answer was obvious. "Though I suppose I would want to test it and perfect it in my Gym first."

"Cynthia might have issues with your ambitions."

"She might have issues with this Gym too," Volkner countered.

"So you think it might be supernatural after all," concluded the redhead with a grin.

"This place is as about supernatural as Morty's self-believed connection with Ho-oh," Volkner grumbled, grabbing Flint's arm again and dragging him along. "I'll figure out this place yet, and you agreed to help me. Now that you know you're not going to die this time, pay attention while we're falling."

"Volk, _wait_!" protested Flint, trying to resist as Volkner marched back to the edge. "I still seriously think this is a bad idea!"

"If I'm not dead yet, you'll be fine."

"_Volk_!"

All the while the Trainer watched, stupefied. He and his Raticate turned to each other, now more nervous now rather than less .

"Maybe we should come back later…" said the Trainer, as he and his Pokemon cautiously crept toward the door. "…This looks like it could take awhile…"

_IIIIII_

_While I was playing through Morty's Gym on SoulSilver, I walked off the pathway about a half-dozen times. Two things occurred to me: one, this Gym would be terrifying to navigate in real life, and two, this place would drive Volkner nuts if he ever found it. Volkner strikes me as the obsessive-compulsive type, especially when it comes to traps and Gyms._

_ On a somewhat related note, I suspect Volkner gets Flint into trouble at least as much as Flint gets him into trouble. You can't trust a Gym Leader who makes a Gym so complex that he accidentally shuts down AN ENTIRE CITY when he tries to run it XD. I'm sure he's good at tricking or at least out-thinking people when he feels like it, and though I love Flint he doesn't strike me as the sharpest person around :P._

_Let me know what you think about this random little story._

_Cya!  
_


End file.
